Great news!

The Shaw Brothers film version of this, Chor Yuen's "Killer Clans," with Yueh Hua, is one of the releases among the new DVD re-issues, and it's what got me started looking around for translations. Many thanks!

Although the light of the meteor is short-lived, yet what else in the sky can exceed its brightness, its magnificence!
Whenever the meteor appears, even the eternal stars cannot deprive it of its radiance.

The life of the butterfly is fragile, even more fragile than that of a delicate flower.
But it only lives in the spring.
It is beautiful, it is free, it flies.
Its life is short yet fragrant.

Only the sword comes close to eternity.
A swordsman’s radiance and life, often depends on the sword he held in his hand.
If the sword had emotions, then maybe its vivacity would be as short as the meteor.
As the meteor drew across the night sky, he was lying on this grey rock.
He gambled, he drank.
He patronized brothels. In his life, he had many different women.
He even killed!
Yet whenever there was a meteor, he rarely missed it. Because he often lied here, waiting. As long as he could feel that sight-taking brightness, that luminescent excitement, then that was the greatest happiness in his life.
He did not want to miss this chance for anything, because his life contained little happiness.
He used to want to catch a meteor. Of course, this was a long time ago. Now, he did not have many dreams left, and barely any memories.
For a person like him, dreams were not only ridiculous. They were even shameful.

* * *

This was the one place in the world closest to meteors.
At the bottom of the hill, the lights were still on in the little cottage. When the wind blew, it sometimes brought sounds of laughter and toasting up the hill from the little cottage.
That was his little cottage, his wine, and his women!
But he would rather lie here, would rather be alone.
The light of the meteor already disappeared from the sky, the water running next to the grey rock was weeping, the time for partying had already passed. Now he must be calm, extremely calm.
Because one must be calm before killing.
Now he must kill!

* * *

He did not like to kill.
Every time when his sword tip stabbed into someone’s heart, as the blood ran down the shaft of his sword, he could not enjoy the excitement that inflates ones blood vessels.
He only felt pain.
Yet no matter how deep, how strong the pain, he had to endure it.
He had to kill.
If he did not kill, then he must die!
Sometimes, a person lived not to enjoy happiness, but to endure pain; because living was also a responsibility, no one could escape it.
He started to remember the first time he killed.

* * *

Luo Yiang was a large city.
Different types of people resided in the city of Luo Yiang – heroes and celebrities, poets and painters. Some were rich and some are poor. Also, the leaders of two major sects, and the chiefs of three major groups resided in this city as well.
But no one’s fame was as glorious as Gold Spear Li. No one’s wealth and properties exceeded half of that of Gold Spear Li, and no one could withstand Gold Spear Li’s 49 stances of “Rushed Storm Sudden Rain.”

The first person he killed was Gold Spear Li.

Gold Spear Li’s wealth and fame did not fall from the sky; hence, he had many enemies: so many that he did not even remember them all.
However, no one ever dreamed of killing him. No one dared.
Gold Spear Li had four huge guardians and thirteen bodyguards. Each one of their martial arts could be considered the top in Jiang Hu. And two 2-meter tall giants carried his spear for him.
These people never left his side for a minute.
He himself wore a weapon-proof gold thread vest. Others not only could not kill him, they could not even come near him.
Even if there was someone with better martial arts than Gold Spear Li, to be able to kill him, that person must first overcome seven levels of hidden weapons just to enter the Gold Spear Fortress. Then that person must beat down the two giants, four guardians, and thirteen bodyguards around Gold Spear Li. Finally that person had to pierce through Gold Spear Li’s throat with his sword, and no other part of his body. This stance must make absolutely no mistakes, and could not be slow in any way – because he would not have a second chance.

{NOTE: The killing part, I changed a lot of the “he” used in the original text to “Gold Spear Li” to avoid confusions.}

Nobody wanted to do this, nobody was able to do this.
Only one person was able to do this, and that was him – Meng XingHun.

* * *

First, he spent half a month and traced the behaviours, activities, and even every movement of Gold Spear Li inside out.
Afterwards, he spent another month to get inside of the Gold Spear Fortress, working in the kitchens as a water boy.
Then, he spent another month and a half waiting.
Everything was easy, but waiting was not. Gold Spear Li was like a cold yet innocent virgin, never giving anyone a chance for assault. Even when he bathed or used the washroom, there was someone guarding him.
But, as long as one waited, the chance will come – virgins eventually become mothers.
One day it was very windy. A gale blew away Gold Spear Li’s crown. Those closely surrounding him all went to chase after it.
Gold Spear Li’s eyes also followed the blown away crown.
In this moment, no one looked after anything else. Because that moment was so short, no one had the confidence to seize it.
Hence, they were careless. They did not think that there was anything worth being worried about. In this moment, Meng XingHun came, and used one sword stance.
Only one stance!
The sword entered the blood vessel from behind the left side of Gold Spear Li’s neck, and exited from the front of the right side of his neck.
The sword was pulled out immediately.
Blood sprayed, blood droplets sprayed around like a mist.
The mist of blood covered everyone’s eyes, the sword flash scared away everyone’s souls!
When the mist of blood cleared, Meng XingHun was miles away.
No one could describe his speed, and no one could describe the speed of this sword stance.
Apparently, when they performed a check for Gold Spear Li, his eyes were wide open, filled with looks of doubt and disbelief.
He did not believe that he could die!
He could never believe that someone could kill him.

* * *

The news of Gold Spear Li’s death reached everyone under the sky, yet the name of Meng XingHun was still unknown to anyone.
Because no one knew who the killer was.
Some swore that they would find this “assassin,” to avenge the death of Gold Spear Li.
Some swore that they would find this “saviour,” and kiss his feet for ridding Jiang Hu of a plague.
Some younger swordsman looking for fame, were also looking for him. But they only wanted to duel with him, to see whose sword was faster.

But he did not care for any of these.

After he killed, he just ran to his little cottage alone, hiding in a corner crying, vomiting.

Now, he stopped crying, there were no more tears to cry. Nevertheless, every time he saw the blood stains on his sword tip, he still could not help but hide and vomit.

Before killing, he was completely calm, absolutely calm, extremely calm.

But after killing, he could not control himself anymore.
He must gamble, drink, and then find the easiest, most beautiful women to help him forget about killing. He had difficulty forgetting, he could never forget.
Thus, he had to continuously gamble, drink, continuously looked for women.
Until the next time he killed.
Then he would go up the hill alone, and lie on the grey rock beside the running water doing nothing, thinking about nothing.
He could not think, and was afraid to think.
He was just forcing himself to calm down, so he could go kill another person.
He did not know this person, had no grudges against him, he had never even met him before.
The life and death of this person had nothing to do with him.
But now, he must go kill this person.
He killed only because Gao LaoDa told him to do so.

* * *

When he first met Gao LaoDa, he was only six. Then, he had already starved for three days.
Starvation for a six-year-old child was even more terrifying than death, even more unbearable than waiting for death.
He lied hungrily on the road, seeing nothing.
For a six-year-old child to feel death is something unbelievable.
Back then, he really could feel death … perhaps things would have been better if he died then.
The reason he did not die was because someone’s hand reached out to him, gave him a large loaf of bread.
Gao LaoDa’s hand.
Cold, hard bread.
As he took this loaf of bread, tears streamed down his face like the stream in the spring. The tears wet the bread. He could never forget the taste of the bread in his throat, mixed with bitter, salty tears.
He could also never forget Gao LaoDa’s hand.
Now, this hand no longer gave him cold bread, but silver and gold, as much as he wanted.
Sometimes, this hand would also pass him a little piece of paper. The paper only carried a name, a location, and a deadline.
This piece of paper was that person’s death card!

* * *

“Su Zhou, Sun YuBo, Four Months.”

Four months, this deadline meant that Sun YuBo had to die within four months.
Ever since he killed Gold Spear Li, he never needed more than three months time to kill someone.
Even when he assassinated the seventh sect leader Swordsman NangGong of the Dian Cang Sect, it took only forty-one days.
This was not because his sword is faster, but because his heart was colder, his hands were also colder.
He knew that he never needed to spend more than three months to kill a person.
Gao LaoDa knew this, too.
Yet now, the deadline was four months. This already indicated what type of person Sun YuBo was, how difficult and hard it would be to kill him.
The name Sun YuBo was not unfamiliar to Meng XingHun. In fact, the number of people in Jiang Hu who did not know Sun YuBo was even less than the number of Buddhists who did not know the Buddha.
In the minds of Jiang Hu people, Sun YuBo was not only the Buddha, but also the Devil. When he was kind, he would sit next to the bed of a strange, sick child and tell him stories for three days and three nights. But when he was mad, he could also turn the eight villages of the QiLian Mountains into flatlands in three days!
This famous name now was suddenly meaningless to Meng XingHun, just like a dead man’s name.
He could even imagine his sword tip piercing into Sun Yu Bo’s heart. He could also imagine Sun YuBo’s sword tip piercing into his own heart. Either Sun YuBo dies, or he dies.
There was no other choice. Yet no matter who died, he did not care.

* * *

In the east the dawn was breaking. It was day.
White morning mist gradually rose from the stream, from between the mountains and forests. Then they were slowly blown apart by the wind, thread by thread, and floated far away. No one knew where they floated to, they floated until they disappeared.
Life, sometimes, was like the morning mist!
Meng XingHun slowly stood up, slowly walked down the hill.
The little cottage was next to the maple trees at the bottom of the hill. The yellow light from the lantern shined on the pale window paper. Occasionally, bits of laughter emerged from the inside. The people in the cottage obviously did not know that the pleasures left with the night. Real pain arrived with the dawn, still enjoying itself in its drunken dreams.
Meng XingHun pushed the door open, stood, watched.
There were only four or five people left in the little cottage, four or five almost completely naked people. Some were drunk, some were sleeping. Some were just in a daze, staring at the lantern next to the wine cup.
When they saw Meng XingHun, the drunk became sober, the sleeping woke up, half-naked girls ran to him giggling. Their pale arms wrapped around his neck like snakes, their soft chests pressed onto his.
They were all very pretty, and also very young; that was why they still have not realized how horrible it was to sell out their youths. They could still smile so sweetly, so happily!

"Where did you run off to? We were so sad we couldn’t even drink.”

Meng XingHun looked at them coldly. He was the one who sought these girls. Because of them, the silver in his pockets flowed out like water.

Half a day ago, he was still lying among them, muttering sweet nonsense that he did not even believe in himself. Now he only wanted to say one thing.

“Get out!”
“You want them to get out?”

A man was lying on the soft bed, his bare chest like copper, he had no idea where his clothes went, but next to him he kept a sabre.
A copper sabre, the sabre gleamed like fish scales. It does not matter whether he wore clothes or not; but when this sabre was not next to him, then he would feel as if he really was naked.

Meng XingHun gave him a light look and said, “Who are you?”

This man laughed and said, “You’re drunk, you don’t even remember me. I’m your guest from the Three Flower Inn. We both met there drinking, and you insisted that I come.” His face fell, “I came, because you have women here. How can you tell them to get out?”

Meng XingHun said, “You get out too!”

This man’s expressions changed, his huge, rough hand closed on the sabre, he angrily shouted, “What did you say?”

Meng XingHun replied, “Get out!”

A flash of the sabre, the man jumped up and yelled, “Even if you are drunk, even if you forgot who I am, you shouldn’t forget this Violet Fish Scale sabre!”

The Violet Fish Scale sabre was not an ordinary sabre, it was not only very precious, but also very heavy. Someone of lower status could not afford to use such sabre, someone who did not like publicity would not use such sabre, someone with mediocre martial arts would not be able to use such sabre.
There were only three people in Jiang Hu who used such sabre. Meng XingHun did not want to know who he was, only asked, “You use this sabre to kill?”

This man replied, “Of course!”

Meng XingHun asked, “How many did you kill?”

This man’s eyes showed signs of pride, and said, “Twenty. Maybe even more. Who remembers stuff like this.”

Meng XingHun stared at him, a fire of anger was rising from his body to his head.
He always thought of killing as a very painful thing. He could not understand why there were some people in the world who took great pride in killing.
He hated this type of people, just like he hated venomous snakes.

The Violet Fish Scale sabre was slowly put down, the copper-like face was filled with cold smile, “Today I do not want to kill. Besides, I drank your wine and used your women …”

He suddenly realized that Meng XingHun was coming at him. When he realized this, a cold, hard fist already reached his face.
He only felt a hit like an earthquake. He did not even feel the second hit.
He did not even feel pain or fear.
Long, long after, he felt the cold wind blowing against his face, just like needles, stabbing inside his bones, his brain.
He could not help but to touch his mouth with his hand – it turned into soft flesh, with no lips, no teeth. Above that was no nose, his nose disappeared completely.
Now he began to feel fear.
A kind of maddening fear burst from the bottom of his heart, he screamed.
Others from afar heard his scream thought of: a beast with its throat cut off by the hunter.

There was no one else in the cottage, but the cup still had wine in it. Meng XingHun slowly lied down, and put the wine cup flat on his chest.
Wine slowly poured out of the cup, one half spilled on his chest, the other half flowed into his mouth.
The hot, bitter wine passed by his tongue, down his throat, into his chest, as if it melted together with the wine on his chest, and surrounded his entire body.
He suddenly had a dizzy feeling.
Normally, before killing, he always thought of maintaining his calmness, and never touched wine.
However, this time was different. He suddenly felt that he should not go kill that person, he did not want to go. Around that person was a kind of unlucky shadow, waiting for him.
Waiting to devour him!

As she finished her seventh cup of wine, her eyes became bright.
The ones who drink can be separated into two groups – in one group, after a person drinks wine, his eyes will become blurry, filled with blood-shots. Most people belong in this group.
She belongs in the other group.
When she finished her ninth cup of wine, her eyes were bright like stars.
There were six or seven people throwing dice in the room. The clashing of the dice sounded like silver bells.
The lantern hanging on the wall was also made of silver, casting a soft ray onto the fine porcelain sitting on the table, onto the great marble table sitting on fine sandalwood, onto those six or seven sweat-dripping faces.
She felt very satisfied.
This is her room; everything in this room belongs to her. Nevertheless, this room is just a tiny, tiny portion of her properties.
These people were either wealthy merchants and dealers, or famous heroes and celebrities. In the past, they would not even look at her, but now they were all her friends.
She knows that all she needed was to open her mouth, and they would go do anything for her; because they, too, needed her help. She would, too, fulfill any of their strange wishes anytime.
Near the door sat a bearded, middle-aged man wearing a brocade robe: this was the sixth master of the number one wealthy family ZuTai from Lu Nan.
One day, when he was drunk, he said that he had tasted everything except for a baked camel. The next day, when he opened his eyes, he saw four men carrying his breakfast.
His breakfast was a baked camel.
Here at her place, you can demand for something even more absurd. At her place, no matter what you wanted, you would not be disappointed.
Yet ten years ago, she had nothing; not even a complete set of clothing. She could only let some greedy, perverted eyes search through the naked parts of her body.
Back then, no matter who gave her a set of clothing, then that person could receive everything from her body.

* * *

Now she owned almost everything!
The brighter her eyes, the more drunk she was.
The clashing of dice was non-stop, the wagers getting bigger, the sweating getting more.
Looking at their face, she suddenly felt ridiculous. These normally handsome gentlemen, when they see gambling and women, became a bunch of dogs, a bunch of pigs, a hybrid of pigs and dogs.
She wanted to vomit.

Someone from across the room yelled, “This time I’ll be the banker. Landlady, you wanna give it a try?”

She walked over there, carelessly put down a bank note. The banker was the head of a team of armed escorts. He also owned a few restaurants. He always liked to show of his rough, strong muscles and that jade ring on his finger to her – this means that he not only has money, but also masculinity.
She knew that he was hitting on her.
The banker threw an “Eleven.” He laughed, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth like a hungry dog.
She carelessly picked up the dice, and threw a “Four Reds.”
The banker’s laugh was already a bit uneasy, but he was still laughing. But when he saw the “50 000 Taels” on her bank note, his face became more black and more yellow than his teeth.

She smiled and said, “This is just a game, no need to take it seriously. If Third Master Song did not bring enough money, then just bark twice. It’ll cheer everyone up. This bet is about barking.”

For 50 000 taels, many people will bark like a dog.
But she had already quietly pushed the door open, and slipped out silently. She was afraid that she would have vomited right there on the spot.
She walked along the path, walked out of these beautiful woods, and arrived at the little cottage at the bottom of the hill. She saw a half-drunk Meng XingHun the second she pushed the door open.
She silently walked to him, reached out her hand to him …

* * *

Meng XingHun was neither sleeping, nor drunk. He just did not want to understand.
When he heard the footsteps, he opened his eyes and saw her hand.
No one can deny that this is not an extremely beautiful hand. It was just a bit too big, but this only showed the strong, unyielding characteristics of the hand’s owner.
People who saw these hands would never believe that these hands once dug for yams buried under cold ice, that these hands once dug for coal under a two metre ruins.

She stared at him, gently took the wine cup off his chest and said, “You should not be drinking.”

Her voice was soft, yet commanding.
She really could command him.
“Gao LaoDa” was not a big brother, but a big sister. It was her hands that gave him his life. Back then, that cold, hard piece of bread really was more precious than all the gold in the world.

{NOTE: In Chinese, “LaoDa” usually refers to a male.}

Back then was the most difficult times during the war and starvation. You could aways see people who died of starvation lying on the road. Dead people were nothing unusual, if you survived, then that was unusual.
Without a home, without his parents, without anything – a six-year-old child actually managed to survive. This was not only unusual, it was a wonder.
Gao LaoDa created this wonder.
She created four wonders – four children followed her. The youngest was only five; even herself was only a thirteen-year-old child.
In order to raise these four children, in order to survive herself, she did almost anything.
She stole, she robbed, she lied, she even betrayed herself.
When she was only fourteen years old, she sold her virginity to a butcher for one kilogram of meat. She could never forget that drooling face on top of hers.
Fifteen years later, she found that butcher and shoved a one metre long sabre down his mouth.

The light of the sun gently spread over the window paper.
She walked over and pulled down the curtains. She did not like the sunlight, because under the sun, you could see the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.

Meng XingHun did not reply, because he did not know what to say. He had to ask himself first, “Am I afraid?” No.
If a person was not afraid of death, then what else is there to fear?
It was just tiredness. A kind of tiredness that bored into the bones, that seeped into the blood. Tired of killing, tired of bloodshed, tired of this way of life that never sees the sun.
Was this life not like that of a prostitute?

There was only one road in front of him, yet behind him was a whip. He replied after a long time, “I just don’t want to go.”

Big Sister Gao’s beautiful smile suddenly froze, and she said, “No. You have to go.”

She came closer and said, “You know that Shi Qun is in XiBei, and Xiao He went to JingCheng. Neither of them will be back in a short time. Besides, only you can do this, only you can deal with Sun YuBo.”

Meng XingHun asked, “What about Ye Xiang?”

Big Sister Gao laughed coldly, “Ye Xiang! Now he can only hold a baby.”

Meng XingHun said, “He did it before.”

Big Sister Gao said, “Before is before.”

Her expressions gradually softened, she gently said, “I already gave him three chances, I can’t let him disappoint me once more.”

Meng XingHun’s face had no expressions, none at all; yet the corner of his right eye was twitching non-stop. This happens every time he felt sad and angry.

Him, Shi Qun, Xiao He, and Ye Xiang were all children raised by Big Sister Gao. Ye Xiang used to be their leader – he was not only the oldest, but also the smartest, the strongest!
But now …

Big Sister Gao sighed and all of a sudden, she sat down next to him, lied down, and said, “Stop arguing with me, I’m already really tired …”
He hand slowly reached out and grasped his hand, she said slowly, “I know you’re really tired, too. But this is life, if we want to survive, then we can’t stop.”

Survive? Who cares about surviving!
Yet in life, there are always things that you cannot not care about.

Her hand was soft and warm. Ever since he was six, these hands often held his. She was his friend, his older sister, and also his mother.
But now, he suddenly felt that this hand brought him another totally different feeling.
He opened his eyes and looked at this hand, his eyes slowly moving upwards away from the hand; finally he saw her face, her eyes.
Her eyes were clear and bright, but her face was blurred. The sun was blocked by the curtains. The lantern extinguished, too.
All of a sudden, he felt that she was a stranger, a strange yet beautiful woman.

She was looking at him, too. After a long time, she sighed, “You are no longer a child.”

He wasn’t; he wasn’t a child anymore ever since he was thirteen.

Big Sister Gao said, “I know you had many women before.”

Meng XingHun replied, “Many.”

Big Sister Gao asked, “Did you ever like them?”

Meng XingHun answered, “No.”

Big Sister Gao said, “If you don’t like them, then they can never satisfy you. A person who can never feel satisfied will only fell tired.”
She smiled. Her smile was so gentle, so charming, “Maybe you still know nothing about women. You don’t know how much a woman can encourage a man.” Meng XingHun said nothing, his Adam’s apple was moving up and down.
He watched her.
She stood up, slowly stood up. Her movements were so elegant and gentle.
She placed her hand on he buttons and slowly unbuttoned …
Suddenly, she was completely naked – her hips was still slender, her breasts were still firm, her legs were still long and slim, her skin still shined like silk.
She definitely did not look like a woman who has lost her youth.
Standing in the dim morning light, she still resembled a spring goddess.
She looked at him.
Suddenly, he felt an indescribable excitement: his throat was filled up. In this moment, he forgot the past, the future, and even the present.

She slowly leaned towards him, her voice calm yet far away, she softly said, “If you understood women, then you will no longer feel tired. I will teach you to understand women …”

Her breath was mild like the spring wind, with a sweet scent that was enchanting to the heart.
Perhaps she was drunk, but the wine turned into sweetness.
Even though she was no longer very young, she was still an irresistible woman.

* * *

Meng XingHun was running fast through the cold, autumn wind like a beast hit by an arrow.
As he was running, tears suddenly poured out.
He wanted to, he needed to, but he could not accept. No matter how badly he wanted it, he could not accept.

The first time he was excited was when he was thirteen. Back then they were still wandering. One day, they spent the night in someone’s food storage cabin. It was summer, and it was hot and stuffy inside the food storage cabin. He woke up from the heat around midnight, and noticed by chance that she was in a corner washing herself with cold water.
The moonlight shined through the little window in the roof of the cabin, and shined onto her naked, gleaming body. Her hand was massaging her chest, a dreamy moan was emerging from her throat.
Then her body jerked as if she collapsed.
At that instant, he felt as if a fire started burning in his stomach. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Sweat soaked through his clothes.
Ever since then, every time he became excited, he would think of her, of her hand massaging her chest, of her jerking, trembling legs.
Afterwards, he would always have a guilty feeling. He tried hard to stop himself from thinking about it. He even secretly carried a needle with him: every time he thought about it, he would stab his legs with that needle.
The older he became, the more needle scars he had on his legs. Until he had a real woman.
Yet whenever he closed his eyes, he still could not help but to prevent that the other women were her.

He never imagined that one day, he could really have her.
He really wanted to, really needed to, yet no matter what, he could not accept.
As he ran out of the little cabin, the expression on her face was as if someone had slapped her – slapped her really hard. For a woman, there was no insult greater than this in the world.
He knew how she felt inside, nonetheless, he had to reject.
She always will be his older sister, his mother, and also his friend. He could not destroy her place held in his heart, because no one could ever take her place.

* * *

The leaves on the trees had begun to fall from the cold.
He ran into the forest, stopped, tightly embraced the tree in front of him, and rubbed his face with the rough tree bark. He only knew that his face was wet, but did not know if it was blood or tears?

The sun already rose, the garden around the forest was as beautiful as a painting. Within 1 500 kilometres from here, one could not find a second garden this beautiful, nor a more charming place than here.
Different types of people from different places come here, just like flies are attracted to blood on a piece of meat. Even if they spent their last silver tael in this place, they would not regret it.
Because this place is the “Pleasure Forest.”
Here, you could not only buy the best wine, the best women, but you could also purchase dreams you thought would never come true.
As long as you were generous enough, here, you could even buy another person’s life!
Here, there was nothing that money could not buy, and there was that could have for free. If you came here, then you had to be prepared to spend money, Meng XingHun was no exception.
No one was an exception.
Because the owner of this place was Gao JiPing a.k.a. Gao LaoDa. Living through almost twenty years of hardships and poor wanderings had taught her one thing: “You own sons are not as good as money.” There was nothing more important than money in this world.
Nobody could say that she was wrong, because she learned this through poverty, and this was more painful and more real than cutting yourself with a knife.

A few people came out of the house next to the little bridge. Their arms were around the waists of young girls. They were yawning and discussing their match.
An all night long gambling session sometimes was more exciting than a life-or-death battle, and more tiring.
Meng XingHun recognized the first person that came out – his surname was Tai and he was the master of the richest family in LuDong, and he was old enough to be the grandfather of the young girl beside him.
Still, he maintained his body well, he was still very energetic. Hence, every autumn, he would come and stay here for a while.
Meng XingHun suddenly thought, “There aren’t that many people who want to buy the life of Sun YuBo. Could that person be him?”
The price to purchase someone’s life was, of course, very expensive; and there are not that many people who are qualified to buy Sun YuBo’s life. Before, when Meng XingHun killed, he never wondered about who the buyer was. Yet this time, he suddenly had curiosity.
Judging by the loudness of his laughter, Tai obviously was successful last night. Yet suddenly, he stopped laughing, because someone on the bridge walked pass.
This person was very tall, very strong. He wore a long, light-green robe, his grey hair was tied into a bun. His hands made a chiming noise, as if he was holding iron balls.
Meng XingHun could not see his face, he only saw Tai HuHua’s.
Tai HuHua’s status was very high in the martial arts society, almost at the same level as any of the major sect’s leaders. But when he saw this person, his expressions immediately changed to a very respectful one and he bowed to show curtsy.
This person only nodded slightly, carelessly talked a bit, and walked by proudly.
Meng XingHun really wanted to walk over there and see who this person was, but he could not.
Here, he was just a ghost who could never see the sunlight – with no forename, no surname. He must not meet others, and others, too, must not recognize him.
Because Gao LaoDa believed that the Jiang Hu must never know that a person like him existed.
He only lived to kill, and must also die due to killing.
If he wanted to live longer, then he definitely must not have emotions, must not have friends, and also must not have a life of his own.
His life did not belong to him anyway.

End Of Chapter One

Chapter Two - Fight Between The Ambitious

Meng XingHun suddenly felt that this tree had it better than him. At least, this tree had its own life, at least it could stand up straight on its own.
He pushed away from the tree, stood up straight. All of a sudden, a hand reached down from the tree, holding a cup of wine.

A deep, hoarse voice said, “How come you woke up so early? This isn’t a good thing. Come and have a drink.”

With his head hanging, Meng XingHun took the cup.
He did not have to lift his head to know who that person in the tree was. Even if he did not recognize this deep, hoarse voice, he recognized this hand.

It was a big hand, big yet thin, meaning that he could hold anything very tightly. Especially when he held his sword. No one could strike that sword from his hand.
Yet this hand had not held a sword for a very, very long time.
The sword in his hand was stroke down by himself.
“Ye Xiang killing … never failed …”
Gao LaoDa always had a lot of confidence in him. He had a lot of confidence in him. But now, it seemed as if he could not even hold this wine cup.
There was a long, deep scar running down his forearm. This was a souvenir from the last time he killed.
That person was called Yang YuLin. He was not a very amazing person, any of the people Ye Xiang killed before was more powerful than him.
Gao LaoDa wanted him to kill this person, only to regain his confidence, because he had already failed twice.
However, this time, he failed again.
Yang YuLin’s sabre almost cut off his hand.
Ever since then, he did not kill another person. Ever since then, there was not one day when he was not drunk.

The wine was hot. Meng XingHun took only one sip, and frowned.

Ye Xiang said, “This isn’t good wine. I know you’re not used to it. But no matter how bad the wine is, it’s still better than no wine.”
He suddenly smiled, “The fact that Gao LaoDa still lets me drink this kind of wine is already very flattering. In reality, someone like me now only deserves to drink horse piss.”

Meng XingHun did not say anything, he did not know what to say.
Ye Xiang already slipped off the tree. He leaned against the trunk and watched Meng XingHun with a smile.
Yet Meng XingHun did not look at him.
People who saw him before would never believe how much he changed.
He used to be a very handsome, very strong person full of energy, with a threatening stare that resembled a gleaming sabre.
But now, the sabre already rusted. The muscles on his once handsome face slowly loosened and gradually sagged. His eyes became dim and faint, his stomach turned outwards, even his voice became hoarse.

Taking the wine cup, he took one giant gulp. Suddenly Ye Xiang sighed, “We have less and less chances of seeing each other now. I don’t really blame you, even if you look down on me, it’s alright. If it wasn’t for you, Yang YuLin would’ve killed me.”

The last time Gao LaoDa sent him to kill someone, she already stopped trusting him. Hence, she ordered Meng XingHun to follow him.
Ever since that time, Meng XingHun completely took his place.

Ye Xiang smiled again, “To be honest, I knew you were following me that time, so I …”

Meng XingHun said, “You knew that Gao LaoDa told me to follow you, and knew that she no longer trusted you. So you stopped having confidence in yourself. If I didn’t go, you definitely could have killed Yang YuLin.”

Ye Xiang laughed again, a very sad laugh, “You’re wrong. The time when I had to go kill Lei LaoSan, I already knew that I could never kill ever again.”

That time he had to go kill Lai LaoSan was the first time he failed.

Meng XingHun said, “Lei LaoSan was just an evil person charging usury. You normally hate this kind of person the most. I always wondered why you couldn’t kill him that time?”

Ye Xiang bitterly laughed, “I don’t know why either. I just suddenly felt tired, so tired that I didn’t want to do anything. You might not know that type of feeling.”

The word “tired” was like a needle.

The corner of Meng XingHun’s eye was twitching again. After a long time, he said word by word, “I know.”

Ye Xiang asked, “You know?”

Meng XingHun said, “I already killed eleven people.”

Ye Xiang was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Do you know how many people I killed?”

Meng XingHun did not know. Except for Gao LaoDa, no one knew.
Every mission was a huge secret, never to be told to anyone.

Ye Xiang said, “I killed thirty people, no more and no less, thirty.”
His hand was shaking. He quickly took another gulp, swallowed it with his eyes closed. He breathed out, and continued slowly, “In the future, you’ll kill this many people, too. Perhaps even more, because you have to kill, or you’d end up like me.”

Meng XingHun’s stomach was jerking. Suddenly, he had an urge to vomit.
Ye Xiang was his mirror.
It was as if he saw his entire life on Ye Xiang.

Ye Xiang said, “Everybody has their own fate. Most people are just being played around with by fate. Only very few people can resist and change their fate. I just hate that I’m not this type of person.” His dim eyes suddenly had a thread of light, “But I had my chance.”

Meng XingHun asked, “You did?”

Ye Xiang sighed, “Once. I met this person, she was willing to help me despite of everything. Back then I was also willing to leave with her despite of everything. Perhaps life would’ve been better now … even if we died, it would’ve been a good death.”

Meng XingHun asked, “Then why didn’t you do that back then?”

The light in Ye Xiang’s eyes became dim again, his irises shrank because of pain. After a long time, he darkly replied, “That’s maybe because I’m a stupid, idiotic, and cowardly moron. I didn’t dare to.”

Ye Xiang said, “Couldn’t bear to? Not bearing to is more moronic. I just hope that you’re not as moronic as I was.” He stared at Meng XingHun, and said slowly, “There is only one chance, it’ll never come again if you miss it. But there will be at least one chance like this in everyone’s lives. I beg you, when that chance comes, don’t miss it.”

He turned his head, perhaps because he did not want Meng XingHun to see the tears in his eyes.
He begged Meng XingHun, perhaps not for the sake of Meng XingHun, but for the sake of himself.
His life already ended, he hoped to see his life continue in Meng XingHun’s body.
Meng XingHun did not say anything, he could not tell anyone about the way he felt.
Only he knew his feelings towards Gao LaoDa.
He would rather die for her.

Ye Xiang asked, “Do you have another mission?”

Meng XingHun nodded.

Ye Xiang asked again, “Who do you have to kill this time?”

Meng XingHun said, “Sun YuBo.”

This was supposed to be his secret; but in front of Ye Xiang, he had no secrets.

He suddenly noticed that Ye Xiang’s irises were shrinking again. After a long time, he finally asked, “Is it Sun YuBo from JiangNan?”

Meng XingHun asked, “You know him?”

Ye Xiang replied, “I saw him.”

Meng XingHun asked, “What kind of person is he?”

Ye Xiang said, “What kind of person he is … … no one can really tell. I only know one thing.”

Meng XingHun said, “What thing?”

Ye Xiang replied, “I’d never go kill him!”

Meng XingHun was silent for a long time, then said slowly, “I also only know one thing.”

Ye Xiang asked, “What do you know?”

Meng XingHun’s eyes focused on somewhere far away and said word by word, “I have to kill him …”

Originally posted by Alucard is this the one with the movie "Butterfly and Sword" by Tony Leung, Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh?

yeh, i have this one at home. very good, you get to see people speared like a kebab stick all the way from the top of a bamboo stem in the forest to the base or the next jutting out branch. lots of blood

Could you care to put your list of 2nd class GL novels here? Cause I also don't want to accidentally read them

It is a bit personal (.. based on re-read value and lasting impression on the story and its characters ..... I can explain but it will be a long reasoning and anyway other people will have their own different opinion...so.. ) ...and I need to mention here that I don't mean to hurt other people who have their own preference ...